In-depth coverage and analysis of the weekend's box office totals from einsiders.com.

Sunday, December 2, 2007

'Enchanted' tops leftovers weekend, Nov. 30-Dec. 2

With moviegoers still recovering from force-feeding days of turkey leftovers, the box office hit its annual post-Thanksgiving lull as the top three films of last weekend remaining unchanged this week. The weekend's lone new release, MGM's thriller Awake, debuted in a disappointing fourth place.

Topping the box office for the second consecutive weekend was Disney's animated/live-action family film Enchanted, which took in $16.4 million. In 12 days of release, the Amy Adams starrer has amassed $70 million. With the meat of the Holiday season still ahead, look for this well-reviewed Disney hit to finish close to $150 million domestically.

In second place once again was the surprise hit This Christmas, which has already turned a tidy profit for Sony. Falling 53% to $8.2 million, the $13 million budgeted pic has grossed $36.9 million in two weeks. In third was Paramount's $150 million budgeted cg pic Beowulf, which added another $7.8 million to its treasure chest, pushing its three week total to $68.6 million.

The weekend's only wide release debut was a disappointing one as MGM's thriller Awake limped into fourth place with $5.8 million, averaging a weak $3,002 in 2,002 theaters. Starring Hayden Christensen and Jessica Alba, the film suffered from poor reviews and never gained traction with moviegoers.

In other box office news, New Line Cinema sneaked its $180 million budgeted fantasy epic The Golden Compass on Saturday in 873 theaters, hoping to peak interest and word of mouth heading into its opening weekend next week. The film hasn't been tracking particularly well, and New Line has essentially gambled its entire year on this one release.

Outside of Enchanted the lack of another major box office player thus far in the Holiday season has led to a 10% drop from last year's comparable frame, when Happy Feet and Casino Royale led the weekend with $17.5 million and $15.2 million respectively. That could all turnaround when this Holiday's most expensive feature, The Golden Compass makes its anticipated debut.